More rigorous legislation was approved in Portugal to regulate short-term rental properties. From July 1, 2017, properties posted on Airbnb, Booking, Homeaway and other platforms will need to be enrolled on the national tourism register.

To be allowed to advertise on such platforms, property owners will have to fill in a required field with the registration number of their accommodation. Platforms will be subject to sanctions if they market non-registered properties.

This measure is part of a package of amendments approved on April 20, in the Council of Ministers and “is a way of guaranteeing the rules of legal competition,” explains Ana Mendes Godinho, Secretary of State for Tourism, in statements to “Jornal de Negócios”.

Portuguese new legislation for property short term rentals.

“Licensing has to be as simple as possible, always respecting security levels.”

Ana Mendes Godinho (Secretary of State for Tourism)

Local Accommodation in Numbers

According to the Portuguese National Institute of Statistics, in 2014, local accommodation hosted 2 million guests, 23% more than 2013.

In 2015, the local accommodation units received 2.3 million guests (+ 19% when compared to 2014).

“Two-thirds of the local accommodation is neither in Lisbon or Porto, but in medium-sized cities.”

Economy Minister Manuel Caldeira Cabral

According to a Publico interview with the president of the Association of Local Accommodation in Portugal, Eduardo Miranda, “The Local Accommodation already represents one third of the total Lisbon tourism capacity.” In the same interview, Mr. Miranda stated that he feared recent changes to the law might limit the activity of the Local Accommodation sector in Portugal.

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